CodeIgniter - 2 forms in a view - php

Question

I have a view which has 2 forms:
<table>
<th>Write a comment.</th>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string(),$form1);
echo form_textarea($comment);
echo form_submit('submit','submit');
echo form_close();
?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string());
echo form_dropdown('portion', $portion_options);
echo form_submit('book','book');
echo form_close();
?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
In the controller I check which button was clicked and then I perform some action by adding the corresponding form's values to the database.
if(isset($_POST['book']))
{
//sending the data to the database
echo "Book button clicked";
}
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
//sending the data to the database
echo "Submit button clicked";
}
However when the 'book' button is clicked no action is performed. It is like the button was never clicked. Whereas when I click the 'submit' button, every action is done properly.
In the past I have used the same technique on plain php (i mean no framework, just php), and has worked fine for me. Does codeigniter need any further configuration? Am I doing something wrong?

Answer 1

Why not add a hidden field to both forms called form_idwith values 1 and 2 respectively? Easy to catch in your controller upon post; e.g.:
if($this->input->post()){
switch($this->input->post('form_id')){
case 1:
// do stuff
break;
case 2:
// do stuff
break;
}
}

Answer 2

<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string(),$form1);
and
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string());
Looks like you forgot to provide the settings in the second one like:
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string(),$form2);

Answer 3

Well after spending my whole day on this I finaly managed to solve it somehow (although I believe it is not such a propper way to handle this).
Well:
$comment = array(
'name' => 'comment',
'id' => 'comment',
'value' => 'write you comment',
'row' => '5',
'cols' => '100'
);
<table>
<th>Write a comment.</th>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string());
echo form_hidden('form_id', 1);
echo form_textarea($comment);
echo form_submit('submit','submit');
echo form_close();
?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table>
<th>Write a comment.</th>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo form_open($this->uri->uri_string());
echo form_hidden('form_id', 2);
echo form_dropdown('comment', $portion_options);
echo form_submit('book','book');
echo form_close();
?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Probably the forms fields (textarea and dropdown) needed to have the same name (which i have set to 'comment'). Although I do not understand why :/
Thank you all for trying to help me :)